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Topic: How to fix fallen comb...? (Read 5550 times)

I had a bit of a disaster yesterday. I had been using top bars where I had wax foundation starter strips wedged into the top bars with popsicle sticks. The foundation strips were about 1/2" long. My bees started their new wax at the end of the foundation and didn't have it anchored to the top bars at all. The result being that some of the top bars are failing. I opened the hive yesterday to find three on the bottom of the hive, and I removed a fourth that was bound to head that direction.

I see many posts about rubberbanding comb, but this is all new wax. It is SO soft that handling it at all is a bit precarious. What I did (since much of the comb had brood) is rubberbanded the comb into empty, wired, langstroth medium frames and put them into a langstroth hive.

Thanks for the response! I see that the bees have also started the wax off the bottom of your starter stick. Maybe if the temps had been cooler this past week the comb might have stayed attached to my starter strips and I could have tried that. I will definately keep it in mind for next time, though, just in case. But when I picked the comb up off the bottom of the hive, it broke off from the strips, so there was nothing solid for the floss to hold onto.

Or, is what you're suggesting to "sew" the popsicle sticks on to begin with? That would have definately helped!

The sewing is to get the comb re-attached to the bar now. I suspect that your starter strip didn't melt as much as the weight of the comb just pulled it out. Just thread the floss through the comb about 1 - 1 1/2 inches down and over the top bar and tie it off. If your combs large and heavy it's going to be tough and messy to do.

This video below shows using a hairclip. I've got some but bought them after I did the dental floss thing. So far I haven'[t had any very large sections of comb to repair.

The sewing is to get the comb re-attached to the bar now. I suspect that your starter strip didn't melt as much as the weight of the comb just pulled it out. For new bars you either need to 'glue' the starter strip in with wax or just glue the popsicle stick to the the bar using wood glue and don't use the wax starter strip at all.

My bars just have a triangular piece of wood stapled to the bar. On every bar I've got the bee's are starting at the sharp edge on the bottom.

Florida in July, the comb was pretty soft too. I used rubber bands to mount this cutout. Wide and loose rubber bands, and they did cause some damage, but the bees attached the combs in a few days and I cut the rubber bands so they wouldn't have to. The bees will repair the damage in short order.

I had a bit of a disaster yesterday. I had been using top bars where I had wax foundation starter strips wedged into the top bars with popsicle sticks. The foundation strips were about 1/2" long. My bees started their new wax at the end of the foundation and didn't have it anchored to the top bars at all. ...quote]

I made my top bars by cutting a kerf into the bar and gluing in a strip that stands out about 1/4 inch. The kerf cut is not necessary, you can achieve the same geometry by just gluing a 1/4 x 1/4 inch strip onto the bar. Extending down farther is detrimental, IMO. Then I rubbed the strip down with softened wax. I did not have good success using top bars with frames. Bees burred them together at the frames and to the walls.

Popsicle sticks and starter strips are good in cooler climates , but i find that if you use cotton string centered on top bar and melt wax on it works better. Closer to top bar the better adhesion for comb.

I've seen starter strips fail up here..they were strips of foundation left over from lang frames and the day was cool, bar partially drawn.

I like the V bars, relatively easy to make if you have a tablesaw Find a way to pin the starter strips if you dont go with solid strips..molding is another viable options. Again pin them if you can.

I have reattached with wire it was all I could scounge up at the time, and snapped a great bar of capped brood off got a bit clumsy, reparied that one with hairclips and it worked very well. Tied them with fishing line I had laying around, they fixed the combs nicely. I havent cut the clips out yet, probably should winters getting close or just leave them till next year. I did remove the fishing line. I dont see why a small zip tie wouldnt work also.